Olympics 2016: Latest news and today's key events and times

Olympics 2016: What time are the cycling finals in the UK?

3 August

If there is one Olympic sport in which Team GB excels it is the cycling and hopes are high for another mammoth medal haul at Rio 2016.

At London 2012 British riders won eight of the 18 events, so which riders are back to defend their crowns and who are the new hopefuls on the team?

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

• Here is the full list of medal finals (UK times) featuring British riders in with a shout of pedalling their way onto the podium.

Olympics 2016: When is the gymnastics and how to watch it

3 August

After athletics and swimming, gymnastics is the third biggest sport (along with cycling and weightlifting) at the Rio 2016 Olympics with 18 gold medals up for grabs across three disciplines.

• So who and what should you be looking out for at Rio 2016?

Olympics 2016: Team GB stars tipped for Rio gold – pictures

2 August

Team GB have been set the target of making the Rio Olympics the most successful overseas Games ever, by winning 48 medals.

• So who are the main Team GB hopes for gold at Rio 2016?

Olympics 2016: Rio's swimming stars and when to watch them

2 August

After athletics, swimming is the sport that offers the most medals at the Olympics, with 32 events to be contested in the pool at Rio.

The action takes place at the purpose-built Olympic Aquatics Stadium, which will also host the finals of the men's and women's water polo competitions. The events begin at 5pm on 6 August.

• Who are the swimmers to watch in Rio and can Team GB improve on London 2012

Olympics 2016: What time is the football and who to watch?

2 August

Football has appeared in every Olympics except 1896 and 1932. Organised football was in its infancy for the first Games and in 1932 hosts Los Angeles dropped it because they wanted to use the Games to promote American Football, which featured as a demonstration sport.

• How will the football competition will pan out in Rio and who are the players to watch?

Olympics 2016: What time is the rugby sevens at Rio?

1 August

Rugby makes its return to the Olympics this month after a break of 92 years but it's sevens not that 15s that Rio will host.

• Here's the lowdown on an Olympic newbie that will showcase the skills of some of the fittest, strongest, swiftest athletes on the planet.

Olympics 2016: Heroes of London 2012 going for gold in Rio

28 July

As hosts of the London 2012 Olympics, Team GB won a remarkable 29 gold medals

In total, 48 British competitors were crowned Olympic champions. Some, like Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Ben Ainslie, bowed out after their triumphs in London but many of them will be in Rio this year to defend their titles.

• Who are those competitors looking to join an exclusive club of back-to-back Olympic champions?

Rio Olympics: 28 sports, 41 disciplines and 306 gold medals

27 July

The Rio Olympics will take place across 41 disciplines covering 28 separate sports federations, with a grand total of 306 gold medals to be won.

To be eligible for the summer Games, a sport must be widely practiced in at least 75 countries spread over four continents. Two new events join the roster at Rio: golf returns for the first time since 1904, while rugby 7s makes its debut, although the 15-man game was played at four Olympics, most recently in 1924.

The number of medals on offer across each different sport and each federation varies dramatically.

In golf and many other sports, there will only be two golds - one in the men's competition and one in the women's.

Athletics, on the other hand, counts as a single sport but has 47 golds on offer, with events ranging from the 100m to the hammer throw. All the track and field events come under the control of governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Things are rather more complicated in the pool. Here, the international swimming federation, Fina, oversees the events, but medals are split between four disciplines: swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo. There are a total of 46 golds on offer, with 34 for swimming, eight for diving and two each in water polo and synchronised swimming.

The governing bodies of cycling (UCI), equestrian (FEI), gymnastics (FIG), canoeing (ICF), volleyball (FIVB) and wrestling (UWW) also oversee multiple disciplines.

Here's how the sports break down:

• Aquatics:Diving (8)Swimming (34)Synchronized swimming (2)Water polo (2)• Archery (4)• Athletics (47)• Badminton (5)• Basketball (2)• Boxing (13)• Canoeing: Slalom (4)Sprint (12)• Cycling: BMX (2)Mountain biking (2)Road (4)Track (10)• Equestrian: Dressage (2)Eventing (2)Jumping (2)• Fencing (10)• Field hockey (2)• Football (2)• Golf (2)• Gymnastics: Artistic (14)Rhythmic (2)Trampoline (2)• Handball (2)• Judo (14)• Modern pentathlon (2)• Rowing (14)• Rugby sevens (2)• Sailing (10)• Shooting (15)• Table tennis (4)• Taekwondo (8)• Tennis (5)• Triathlon (2)• Volleyball: Volleyball (2)Beach volleyball (2)• Weightlifting (15)• Wrestling: Freestyle (12)Greco-Roman (6)

Total federations: 28Total disciplines: 41Number of gold medals: 306